Details on Drug-Related Arrest of Elected Haitian Senator

Four days before he would officially become a Haitian Senator, 2004 coup leader Guy Philippe was arrested on drug charges from 2005. He was arrested by Haitian National Police after appearing on a radio show, and brought to Miami by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents. His arrest apparently comes at a time when Philippe was vulnerable – between immunity from being a political candidate and immunity that would have come from being a Senator. This article provides more details on what allowed this arrest to happen, and some reactions from a US attorney.

Haiti’s Philippe dropped his guard before his capture by U.S. agents

Four days before his arrest, ex-rebel leader and newly elected Haitian Senator Guy Philippe swaggered through Haiti’s capital on a VIP tour.

Traveling with armed bodyguards, including Haiti National Police officers, he visited the chic Best Western and El Rancho hotels in Petionville, partied at Hotel Ibo Lele and dined on goat meat at a private home in the La Boule suburb.

Former Haiti coup leader Guy Philippe at his appearance Friday in U.S. federal court in Miami. Handout

Cocky and confident, Philippe, 48, even swung by a newly opened restaurant run by a close friend of interim President Jocelerme Privert. Afterward, thumbing his nose at the head of state, Philippe posed for a photo with heavily armed men in pink and white T-shirts. The photo would later explode on social media.

Philippe’s fate would be sealed when the Ninja-like figure, who always had a network of informants and seemed to be one step ahead of the feds, forgot the first rule of his military training: Always check your surroundings.